


Interface

by wolfy_writing



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-21
Updated: 2013-04-21
Packaged: 2017-12-09 02:14:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/768795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfy_writing/pseuds/wolfy_writing





	Interface

"Is that..." Craig turned. "Doctor! Doctor!"

The Doctor looked up. "Craig! Sophie!" He dashed over. "Good to see you!" 

"Doctor!" Craig repeated. "Er, are you okay?

"I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" The Doctor smiled innocently.

"Fine. Out with the family." Craig gestured to Sophie and Alfie.

"Is everything okay?" Sophie asked. "Craig said that on your last visit you seemed worried about something."

"Oh no, that's all sorted out. Hello, Stormageddon!"

"Stormageddon?" Sophie asked.

"Craig didn't tell you that bit? Not important. Don't worry about it. He doesn't mind going by Alfie now." The Doctor bent down. "Do you, Stormy? Anyway, I was wondering if I could borrow Craig for a bit. I'm not in town for long, and it would be nice to catch up."

"Borrow Craig as in pop down to the pub and have a chat, or borrow him as in drag him off the TARDIS and not come back until Alfie's at university?"

"No, don't worry, I'll have him home by suppertime."

"And he won't be ten years older or a cyborg or dead or anything?" Sophie asked.

The Doctor bit his lip. "Blimey, Craig did remember a lot from when I put my memories in his head, didn't he? No, I'll do everything in my power to keep him away from alien invasions and whatnot. And he really will be back in time for supper."

Sophie tilted her head. "Are you staying for supper as well?"

"I...could. I suppose. I don't see any reason why not."

"Excellent!" Sophie smiled. "You two boys go off and have a nice afternoon, and come back in one piece."

Craig turned to Sophie. "You're sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not! You never complain when I want an afternoon off with my mates."

"You work so hard looking after Alfie..."

"So do you." Sophie kissed him. "Go! Have fun! Just don't let him keep you away too long." She smiled up at the Doctor. "And you'll have to tell me the whole Stormageddon story when you get back."

"Excellent! That’s all sorted." The Doctor took Craig's hand. "See you, Sophie! See you, Alfie! I promise to bring your dad back in one piece!"

Alfie made a sort of gurgling noise.

"No, it should be much safer this time, honestly."

"This time?" Sophie asked, her brow furrowing. "What do you mean?"

"Got to go!" said the Doctor. "Time and pubs wait for no man. Well, me, but...we should go." He pulled Craig along.

\---

"So what is it?" Craig asked, when Sophie was out of earshot. "Aliens? Robots? Vampires? Alien robot vampires? Was it safe to leave Sophie and Alfie behind?"

"Don't be silly, Craig. Vampires are extinct. At least I think I got the last one. No, honestly, I was just thinking I could do with a bit of company, and I thought it'd be fun to take you traveling a bit. A nice weekend out, see a few astronomical phenomena, back in time for supper." The Doctor stopped in front of the TARDIS. "Before you say anything, it's..."

"...bigger on the inside." Craig nodded. "I remember."

"Right." The Doctor gave Craig a sidelong glance. "How much do you remember?"

"Just the basics. You and the TARDIS and a few bits about people you've traveled with, stuff like that. Actually, I’ve forgotten most of it."

"Good." The Doctor unlocked the door.

"Good?"

"Well, better than the alternative. Now it's your chance to see her in person!"

Craig stepped into the TARDIS. It was impressive; how he'd remembered it, but somehow even more so. 

"It's beautiful!" he exclaimed.

"Yes she is," said the Doctor, and that sad look was back. He gave a little shake and started pulling levers. "So, Mars?"

"Mars?"

"Yes. I thought we'd best make it a local trip so we don't have to worry about being back on time. And there are some rather nice pyramids."

"Me, Craig Owens, going to Mars?"

"Yes!” The Doctor flicked some switches. “Don’t worry, this should be a short, safe trip.”

The TARDIS gave a lurch.

The Doctor smiled apologetically at Craig. “You may want to hold on to something.”

\---

Craig sat up and started pushing boxes off himself. "Did we land?"

"In a sense. Strictly speaking, we crashed." 

"Is this Mars?"

The Doctor began pressing buttons. "Er, no."

"No?"

"Missed it by three galaxies."

"Three galaxies?"

"Yes. It's a small trade planet called Zyquort. It's red, though. And dusty." The Doctor pressed buttons with an increasingly worried frown.

"Is that bad?"

"No, I quite like red. Er, something's wrong with the TARDIS."

"You're telling me. Three galaxies!"

"Could be worse. At least I didn't miss the entire universe this time. Craig, I'lm afraid I need to do some repairs before we go out and see the planet. This may be a few hours. There's a rather good library down that way." He pointed, not looking up. "Don't touch anything purple or beginning with Q. And if you see anything alive in there, just pop back and tell me."

"Alive like what?”

“Just, generally alive.” The Doctor popped a panel open and then crawled inside. “Don’t worry, it should be fine. Almost certainly.”

Craig waited for a moment, then wandered out of the room.

\---

The Doctor closed up the panel. "It's not the wiring, it's not the time rotor, it's not anything physical. That leaves..." He went pale. "Ah."

"Okay, now, I'm going to take a closer look." He drew a deep breath and pressed his face against the console. "Come on now, show me where it hurts."

He closed his eyes and focused on his connection with the TARDIS. There was something, but it was elusive. He couldn't quite...

"Come on, now. Please. I know it hurts, but I need to get a good look at it if I'm going to be able to do anything for you." He bit his lip. "Come on, love, for me?"

He closed his eyes and leaned against the console. Then he went gray and stumbled as his legs nearly gave way. His eyes flew open.

He'd suspected, but he hadn't...he hadn't dared think...she was...

He forced himself to take a deep breath and sort through what he'd found. The wound was deep, very deep, and spreading. If she tried to go anywhere in this condition, it'd kill her. If not...well, she might have a year. And he couldn't help her because he couldn't reach the injury. She couldn't survive the strain of pushing that part of herself within the range of his fairly shallow telepathic reach. And he didn't have the technology to build an interface that could let him connect more deeply.

But she thought that someone on this planet might.

She'd sensed it when aiming for somewhere to crash.

"Clever girl," he said, running his hand affectionately along the console. "I'll go find them."

\---

"Craig! I need you!" The Doctor burst in. "How are you at shopping?"

"Er, fine? I mean I can buy bread and milk and things." Craig looked up. "You don't need me to buy...alien milk, do you?"

"No, no, no. That would be bad, actually. Stay away from alien milk. What I need you to do is get me an interface. It's for the TARDIS." The Doctor handed Craig a shiny red rod. "This should give you enough credit to buy anything on this planet."

"But I don't know what a TARDIS interface looks like!"

"Don't worry about it. If it plugs one thing into another thing, then buy it." The Doctor stuffed the rod in Craig's pocket and started pushing him out the door.

"Wait, Doctor, what's going on?"

"Shopping! Humans love shopping, don't you? Every invention from the wheel to the transmat has been used for shopping. Go forth and buy!" The Doctor gestured towards the door.

Craig stopped and turned. "Doctor, what's really going on?"

The Doctor stopped and let out a sigh. "It's the TARDIS. She's...damaged. Quite badly, too. And I don't have the equipment to fix her. But somewhere on this planet, someone just might have it."

"The interface."

"Right. The interface. I don't know where it is or what it looks like, but the TARDIS thinks it's here, and I have to try." He seemed to slump in place.

"If you can't fix it...her..." Craig corrected himself. "Are we stranded here?"

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully, than began digging into his pocket. "Here." He pulled out something like a wristwatch, with one large button. "This should help. It will call...a friend of mine. She should be able to take you home."

Craig took the wristwatch. "Just me?"

"I'm not abandoning her!" snapped the Doctor with surprising venom. "Not while there's any hope."

"Then we'd best get going, then." Craig smiled. "Find that interface-thingy."

The Doctor gave a weak echo of Craig’s smile. "To the interface-thingy."

\---

 

The device on the display stand was a strange-looking cable, long and fleshy-looking, with faint blue hints of what appeared to be veins. The Doctor reached out a finger to touch it.

"What do you want?" asked an alien. The Doctor had never seen a being like this before. It was a ten-legged creature, with slick, damp-looking skin, and a series of protuberances dangling from what the Doctor suspected was its head. A couple of the longer protuberances reached out towards the insertion cable the Doctor had been holding.

"I need a device to connect to my TARDIS. My vehicle. Very unusual technology, you probably wouldn't be familiar with it." The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. "But I think this might possibly be compatible."

"Vehicle?" The being went still. "We think there is mistake. We do not connect human vehicles."

"Ah, see, bit of a misunderstanding. I'm not human, and my vehicle is not human technology." He picked up the insertion cable. "Is this alive?"

"Alive, yes!" The being snatched the cable away with what the Doctor had started thinking of as its head-tentacles. "Wrong for machines! Wrong for anything not alive! There is a very good machine man three streets over, who can make cables for anything! You should go to him!"

"That's the thing," said the Doctor. "She is alive. And the parts of her that I'm trying to reach are rather beyond wiring." Beyond the reach of his telepathic ability as well, but didn't feel the need to announce that.

The being gave a slight twitch. "Why do you want a connection with her?"

"She's sick. She needs me. With the current...interfaces, I can't go deep enough."

The being gave another unreadable twitch. "You want to be very close? Deep connection?" The large, blunt-looking protrusion in the middle of the being's head began waving gently.

"Yes, exactly." There was something fundamental wrong, something deep in the temporal interface, and he couldn't reach it.

He couldn't get in deep enough to help her where she was hurt, and the thought was eating him alive.

"Good!" The being raised several of its smaller head-fronds. "Close, we want to help you become very close. Deep connections and deep love." It grabbed at his hand. "Where do you keep your brain?"

\---

"We make port here," said the being, tapping the back of the Doctor's neck right at the base of his skull.

"Make port?"

"Port, yes. Hole!" The being gestured. "She will go inside you and make connection, and you can ride and go inside her and there will be deep connections and joining and love! Felicitations! Much joy abounds!"

The Doctor gave a small smile. "Much joy, yes."

"We should warn you," said the being, "price for connection."

"Ah yes. What do you want for that? If I don't have it, I can get it after my ship is repaired."

"No, not that kind of price." The being made a slashing sign of negation. "We do not take riches for making connection. Very bad. Very vile thing. Price is unavoidable. Price is pain. You will have much pain while we make port. You must suffer for her if you wish for deep connection. Do you wish?"

"I do," the Doctor said, without hesitation. 

\---

Craig was sorting out the various electronic things, hoping he’d find something useful-looking, when the TARDIS door opened. “Doctor? I found some...things.”

The Doctor stumbled in the door, looking pale. A small...creature accompanied him. "Is inconsistent in size!" the creature said, flattening out the frondy thing on its heads. 

"Yes, she is bigger on the inside. Here's the console, the best place to put the connection." The Doctor opened a few panels underneath. "Do you mind waiting a bit before putting it in? I'd like to be here while you work on her, and I really need a cup of tea."

"We will prepare the flesh" said the creature. It opened up its little case with several of the tentacles hanging off its head, reached in, and pulled out another tentacle. That one didn't seem to be attached to anything.

Apparently, that was alienspeak for a yes, because the Doctor took Craig's arm and pulled him off to the kitchen.

"Doctor, what is that?" Craig asked as soon as they got into the kitchen.

"That, is a rather helpful specialist in biological interfaces. She's going to help me sort out the TARDIS. Now could you please make me a cup of tea? I really do need it." The Doctor sat down heavily on a chair.

Craig began rummaging through the cupboards. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. It's just...there was a bit of a strain setting up my end of the interface."

Craig found the tea in a cupboard full of small trees. "Your end?" He turned, and saw the Doctor bent over the table, his face in his hands. "Did they...do something to you?"

"Nothing I didn't ask them to."

Craig noticed a small...hole at the base of the Doctor's skull. A bit like a wound, but it didn't seem to be bleeding. "What's that?" he asked.

"There's a small dinosaur in the stasis cupboard. Don't worry, I'm just working out where to put it."

"No, that." Craig touched the hole in the Doctor's neck. The hole sucked his finger in, and there was a sudden intense jolt of..something that caused Craig to drop the mug.  
The Doctor let out a low moan.

Craig pulled his finger out.

"I wouldn't advise doing that again," said the Doctor. "Especially considering Sophie."

"Is that...what...what did we...what?"

The Doctor sighed. "I don't have time to explain what just happened in human terms. There isn't a terribly precise equivalent. Probably best to pretend it never happened."

"Right." Craig washed his hands and then went back to making the tea and trying not to think about his finger in the Doctor's...hole.

\---

"Is finished!" said the creature. "You can have connection!" It held up the long tentacle thing, which was about three feet long and noticeably thicker than Craig's finger. 

The Doctor smiled. His color had come back after the cup of tea, and he was looking considerably better. Craig was still worried. All right, aliens and all of that, but drilling a hole in your head and sticking a tentacle in it couldn't be healthy for anyone.

"Much blessings on your joining. May you and your love be happy in your shared flesh."

"Yes, thank you." The Doctor held the tentacle. It twitched in his hand.

The alien backed out of the TARDIS door with a strange bowing motion.

"So...you're really going to stick that in your head?" Craig asked.

"Only way I can save her."

"Yes, but what will it do to you?"

"If I'm lucky, nothing."

“What about that bit about shared flesh?”

“Faulty translation, probably. At least I hope so. It doesn’t really matter.

"Doctor..."

The Doctor turned and looked at Craig. "You'd do it for Sophie, wouldn't you? To save her life?"

"I, er..." Yes. Yes, if he needed to, he'd let any number of alien squidgy things into his brain to save Sophie. If he had to, he’d die for her. And he wanted to say "That's different!", but he had enough remaining traces of the Doctor’s memories in his head that he wasn't sure if it was.

He finally said "Be careful," suspecting it wouldn't make a difference.

\---

The Doctor pulled out a packed of sterile lubricating gel, and rubbed it on his...port. The port gently grabbed on to his fingers and pulled them in. It was like it was eager to be filled.

He didn't feel anything with his own finger in there, though. Not like when Craig had touched it and sent a spurt of Craigness flooding into the Doctor's brain. 

That had been...interesting in a way the Doctor didn’t entirely want to contemplate. Not that he’d disliked it. Quite the contrary. But with twenty-first century humans, there were certain lines one didn’t cross, even in...unusual ways. 

He picked up the connector. It was warm and fleshy and moving gently in his hand as if it was trying to find something.

He found his hands were shaking.

"Here we are, girl. The big moment." He took the connector and moved it to the back of his neck. It touched the port, and began sliding in. It was a tight fit, and for a moment, he thought the port wouldn’t stretch enough.

Then the connector slipped in all of the way and she was inside him.

He let out a long moan, his eyelids fluttering, as he found himself seeing through his own eyes and all of the senses of the TARDIS at the same time. His hands clutched the console and he gasped for breath.

Close your eyes, she whispered, and his eyelids shut.

Much better, my thief. It felt like she was whispering to him, her hot breath in his ear. He felt the weight of her arm around him, and warm flesh pressed against his back.

It also felt like an infinity of other things, but if he concentrated on the feeling of her holding him, he could shut out enough of the rest to think.

Easy, love. We'll do this together. A slight pressure on his back, and he was soaring forward, through the vast starry ocean of her interior, towards the edge of the temporal interface. 

There he could see the cracks spreading out where she was starting to shatter, with the bright blue light of the time vortex seeping through. 

He reached out his hands and began gently running through the equations that would mend the cracks.

\---

"Doctor, did it work?"

Craig got no response.

"Doctor, are you okay? Doctor?" Craig waved his hand in front of the Doctor's face.

The Doctor blinked. "Right. What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine." The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just bit...disoriented." He shook his head. "It's a bit confusing having someone that immense and complicated inside your head. I could probably do with a nap."

"So, is the TARDIS...”  
“She’s better. She’s healing. A few more days.” The Doctor rubbed his face. “A few more sessions, just to be on the safe side. Don’t worry, I’ll have you home for supper.”

\---

You’ve come back. Her voice in his head carried a breathy eagerness. Of course, she wasn’t, in the strictly literally sense, speaking or breathing, but if he pushed what he was feeling into familiar sensory channels, his mind felt less it was starting to dissolve.

“I, er, wanted to make sure you were healing.” Even as he spoke, he felt how ridiculous it was to lie then, with her inside of him like that. She’d healed after the first connection, and they both knew it.

She let out a silvery sine-wave laugh. And suddenly, he knew that she knew. She knew his loneliness and the hollow places inside him, and how desperate he was for her to fill them again. She’d known the whole time, and ached with him as he’d wandered around hungry and hollow, struggling to carry on.

And she wanted to fill him as much as he wanted to be filled by her. 

For a moment he felt arms around him, then something much stronger and intangible, something that was the essence of her.

It was becoming a struggle to force things into anything resembling familiar sensory channels, and the thought came - from her or from his own head, he didn’t know - that he could just let go. Let himself dissolve, and trust her to put him back together.

Open yourself to me came to him, spoken in words, in intents, in starlight, and in the pure mathematics of the universe, and he let go.

Then she was in him, and he was in her, and time and space flowed through them, and the only thing he could think was that she was so much bigger inside than he’d ever imagined.

\---

Some time later, when the connecter went limp and slid free, he opened his eyes and reached to take it out.

There was a sharp pain as he pulled it free, and his hands came away smeared with blood.

 

\---

“You said a few days, Doctor. It’s been a week.”

The Doctor stood, staring blankly at the wall, the sonic screwdriver in his hand.

“Doctor?” Craig waved his hand in front of the Doctor’s face. “Doctor, are you okay?”

“Petrichor.”

“What?”

The Doctor blinked. “Jamie?”

“Craig!”

“Sorry, I’m feeling a bit unstuck in time.”

“Doctor, are you okay?” Craig looked at the back of the Doctor’s neck. “You’re bleeding.”

The Doctor ducked his head and got an odd, guilty expression. He pulled out a handkerchief and began to dab at the wound. 

“It’s a minor side effect. Nothing to worry about. The interface has a few...quirks I haven’t anticipated.”

“It’s hurting you! Doctor, I know you want to save the TARDIS, but...”

“It’s fine.” The Doctor cut Craig off. “It’s all fine. I can take you home in the morning.   
One more repair session, followed by a few hours rest, and she should be well enough to take you back to Earth. It shouldn’t do me any lasting harm.”

“And then you’ll stop using that thing? Get it taken out of your head?” Craig asked.

“Of course. Don’t worry, this isn’t really that much worse than a skinned knee. Get some rest, and in the morning, you can go back to Sophie.”

“Doctor...” Craig wasn’t stupid. He knew that skinned knees didn’t make a person blurt out nonsense. “Whatever’s going on, you can talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” The Doctor gave a neat little smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a little snack before I get back to work. Where’s the custard?”

\---

I have to go, he thought. 

Immediately, there was a sharp No! and he felt her wrap around him more tightly.

For a while only, love he reassured her. I have to take Craig home. 

At first she only clung tighter, filling him with her hunger and love. Then she flowed out like the tide, leaving him aching hollowly.

She’d let him go. But she wasn’t making it easy on him.

He tried to mentally untangle himself, psychic threads snapping painfully apart. But it was all so tangled he couldn’t always find where he ended and the TARDIS began. 

Finally, he opened his eyes.

There was something pale and translucent over his face. And when he reached up to remove the interface, his hand was trapped by TARDIS cables, which snakes around and into his arm.

He knew, looking at the metal cables digging into his flesh, that he should feel concern, possibly even fear, or at least some desire for freedom.

Instead, all he felt was a relief so wild and intense he thought he might faint, and the TARDIS reaching inside to fill his hollow places. 

My love, she said. We don’t need to let go any more. 

\---

"Craig," said a voice from the walls. "We've sorted things out and we're ready to take you home."

"We?" asked Craig. He sat up in bed. 

"The TARDIS and myself," replied the voice, now sounding more like the Doctor. "We're ready to take you back to your family."

"Doctor, are you okay?"

"We're fine. I'm fine. Everything is okay. We'll take you home." With a wheezing, groaning sound, the TARDIS took off.

\---

"The door is going to open. Turn left and walk straight down the corridor until you reach a door. Then stop."

"Doctor, what's going on?"

"Open the door, Craig. Everything is going to be fine. You'll go home to your family, and you won't be lonely, and there won't be anything to worry about ever again."

Craig hesitated, then bent down and picked up the wristwatch-looking device the Doctor had given him. He strapped it to his wrist.

The door slid open.

"There's a good boy. Just straight ahead."

Craig reached the final door. 

"Now this is the tricky bit. You're going to need to not look. It's tricky for humans, not looking. Your stories are full of people who couldn't manage it. Bluebeard, Lot's wife, you lot are terrible at keeping your eyes focused where they should be. But you can do it. You have Sophie at home, and little Alfie. They're waiting for you. A happy family to love you for the rest of your life. That should be enough to help you keep your eyes aimed at the floor."

Craig looked down.

"Good. Very good. Now keep your eye on the floor, and follow the little lights. They should take you to the front door."

The door slid open.

Craig stepped forward, eyes aimed carefully at the floor. There was a section ahead of him that was glowing dimly, as if it was electrified.

"Very good indeed. Now all you have to do is stay on the path, and give Sophie our...my regrets for supper and never worry about this again."

Craig followed the lights until he found himself standing in front of the TARDIS door. It opened gently.

"Goodbye, Craig."

Craig looked up. He found himself staring at his front door. 

"Sorry, Sophie," he muttered. "I'll be late."

He turned.

The Doctor lay curled up next to the console. There were tangles of cables wrapped around his arms and legs, and this strange, thin stuff was covering him. It seemed to be growing out of the TARDIS.

"Doctor!" Craig ran over. "What happened to you?"

The Doctor looked up. "We're together. Oh, Craig, you have no idea how together we are." He smiled.

Craig bent down and touched the stuff covering the Doctor, then pulled his hand back.

It was skin. There were veins in it. Skin was growing out of the TARDIS and covering the Doctor.

Some of the veins had burrowed their way into the Doctor's flesh.

Craig staggered back. His hand went to his wrist, and pressed down on the emergency button.

"You shouldn't have done that." The door locked.

"We're mates." Craig's voice squeaked. He swallowed. "You help your mates."

"We don't need help! Everything is better this way!"

\---

River appeared outside the TARDIS. "What is it, Sweetie?"

She looked around. "Sweetie?" She strode over and knocked on the door of the house.

"Hello, have you seen my husband? He's this high, about twelve hundred years old although he looks more like twelve, and has an irrational fondness for bow ties and tweed?"

Sophie frowned. "Are you talking about the Doctor?"

"You've met!" River's face lit up. "Hello, I'm Professor River Song, and I'm trying to sort out why the TARDIS is out on the front lawn, but there's no sign of the Doctor."

Sophie frowned. "The TARDIS is out there?" She ran out. "Craig? Craig? Are you in there?"

"Sophie!" Craig called out through the door. "Sophie! I'm here!"

"Craig!"

"Sophie!"

"Craig! Sophie! Craig! Sophie!" River shouted in a dramatic voice. "There, now that we've covered that, let's get our men back. Craig, is it? Is the Doctor in there?"

"He's here!" yelled Craig. "But he's...not well!"

"We're fine!" said the Doctor. "We're happy! Why can't you just leave us alone?"

River bit her lip. "This doesn't sound good. Sweetie?" she called. "Could you open the door and let Craig out?"

"Very well." The doors opened, revealing a dark console room. "Step outside, Craig. It's perfectly safe."

River rushed towards the door, then bounced off and landed on the lawn.

"Are you okay?" Sophie bent down and helped River up.

"I'm fine." River brushed herself off. "One-way force field. I should have realized he'd try that."

Craig stood in the console room. "I can't leave! If I leave, he'll go, and there won't be anyone to help him, and he'll...get worse!"

"Not worse!" shouted the Doctor's voice. "Not worse! Better! So much better! Do you have any idea of what it's like to not be trapped alone in your own head anymore? To spend centuries with a hole in you, a hollowness you think will never leave you, and then have someone step in and fill all of your empty places? To finally, after more than seven hundred years, be able to touch your...your...your everything?"

River smiled sadly. "As nice as it would be to imagine you were talking about me, it's the TARDIS, isn't it?"

"Sorry," said the Doctor, sounding momentarily like himself. "I gave you all I could."

"It's in his head," said Craig. "The TARDIS. There's a tentacle in his head, and there's skin growing up around him, and there's veins!"

"It's not your affair," said the Doctor. "You don't belong here. You have your wife waiting for you, and your child. You have so much here. Go back to it. Go back to your life, and stop interfering with mine."

"Craig Owens, don't you dare set a foot outside of that TARDIS!" Sophie shouted.

"Sophie?" asked Craig in a stunned voice.

"You're there for people," continued Sophie, looking slightly surprised at her own daring. "That's what I love about you. When I needed you, you were there, loving me hard enough to save the world. Now your friend needs you, and you can spend a few hours sorting him out."

"A few hours?" asked the Doctor. "What about a few centuries? You can't wait forever, and I can. Or I can take off and drop him off fifty years in the future all alone."

"You won't, though," said Craig. "You're not the type. You wouldn't do that to our family. Not for something like this."

"Not for the TARDIS? You have no idea what I'd do for her."

"I know," said River. "I know what it's like to be loved by you. And you'll sacrifice quite a lot to save the universe, but you wouldn't do something like this for your own pleasure."

There was a very long silence.

Inside the house, Alfie started crying.

"Oh, damn," said the Doctor. "He wants his dad." He let out a defeated sigh. "The force field is down. River, you should be able to come in."

River put out a cautious hand, then stepped across the TARDIS threshold. 

Craig ran out to Sophie. She wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm so proud of you!" she said, squeezing him in a tight hug. 

"I may need your help soon," said River, "But this next bit needs to be done by me." She looked down sadly. "He does tend to leave me the dirty jobs." River turned. "Doctor, I don't think you want the happy family to see this."

The TARDIS door shut.

Inside walked closer, looking at the hunched form of the Doctor, the stretched skin connecting him to the console, and the thick tentacle pulsating in the back of his neck.

"Oh, Sweetie," she said sadly. "This is going to hurt."

She pulled out a long, sharp knife.

\---

There was a knock on the door.

Sophie opened it.

River stood in the doorway, the Doctor leaning heavily on her shoulder. 

He had a small, bloody bandage on the back of his neck.

River gave an apologetic smile. "I know we missed supper, but can we still come in?"

\---

"So what he needs, what they both need, actually, is somewhere quiet to heal, and a bit of space. You seem like the sort of people who would be able to put him in a spare bedroom or on the sofa or somewhere else for him to sleep that isn't the TARDIS. Would you be able to put him up for a week or two? I'd take him in, but I'm in prison at the moment, and I'm not sure how they'd take it if I brought extra people in. They get annoyed enough every time I break out."

The Doctor sat silently, hunched over a cup of tea.

Craig glanced at Sophie.

"Of course we can," Sophie said. "He can stay as long as he needs."


End file.
